Disc brake with electrically operated adjustment device

ABSTRACT

A disc brake, in particular for commercial vehicles with a pivoting or displaceable brake caliper ( 3 ), an actuation device and at least one adjustment device on both sides of the brake disc is characterised in that the brake caliper comprises bearing housings ( 35 ) on the underside thereof, whereby support elements ( 37 ), arranged on the wheel axle, engage in the bearing housings. At least one elastically-deformable spacer element ( 39 ) is provided between bearing housing and support element.

The invention relates to a disc brake, particularly for commercialvehicles, having a single-part or multi-part caliper, which reaches overa brake disc and can be swivelled or slid relative to a wheel axle orhub, and having an application device arranged in the caliper forapplying the brake.

From European Patent Document EP 0 688 404 B1, a sliding-caliper discbrake is known, where an application device with a rotary lever isarranged on one side of the caliper, which lever is disposed do beswivellable about an axis of rotation extending parallel to the plane ofthe brake disc. Facing the brake disc, this rotary lever rests be meansof an eccentric against a traverse which is slidably guided with respectto the brake disc and in which two adjusting screws provided with anexternal thread are adjustably screwed in a parallel arrangement.

From German Patent Document DE 36 10 569 C2, a sliding-caliper discbrake is also known, where a rotary lever has one eccentric respectivelyat two ends, each eccentric engaging with a set bolt in order to press abrake shoe or a brake pad against the brake disc when a piston rod isactuated by a cylinder which can be acted upon by a pressure medium.

In this case, the sliding-caliper brake caliper is designed such that,by means of the sliding path, the working stroke of the brake duringeach braking as well as the maximal wear displacement of the brake pads,that is, the adjusting path of the brake, can be bridged. For adjustingthe brake pad wear, an adjusting device is used which is arranged on oneside of the brake disc.

Swivellable disc brakes of the initially mentioned type are also known.Similar to the above-mentioned sliding caliper disc brakes, here theswivelling angle must be dimensioned such that it becomes possible, inthe area of the brake pads, to bridge the path of the working stroke inorder to place the reaction-side brake pad against the brake disc and tocompensate the brake pad wear occurring over time by means of aswivelling of the caliper. In this case, the caliper has the task ofabsorbing the tension forces upon the brake pads; of simultaneouslyguiding the brake pads; and of transmitting their circumferential forcesby way of the fastening and pivot bearing of the caliper to the axle. Adisadvantage of hinged-caliper brakes is the swivelling-out of thecaliper mainly at a full wear displacement. This disadvantage becomesparticularly clear on the disc side situated opposite the caliperbearing. This indicates a smaller outside disc diameter and a smallerbrake pad thickness in comparison to fixed-caliper or sliding-caliperbrakes.

Before this background, it is an object of the invention to furtherdevelop a disc brake of the initially mentioned type such that aparticularly robust and maintenance-free design of the swivellingmechanism or swivel bearing of the caliper is implemented, in which caseonly the working stroke has to be moved.

The invention achieves this task by means of the objects of claims 1 and2.

The invention provides a disc brake, particularly a pneumaticallyoperated or electromechanically operated disc brake, in the case ofwhich at least one adjusting device respectively is arranged on bothsides of the brake disc, particularly having at least one adjustingrotating device on each side of the brake disc, preferably anelectromotive or mechanical drive acting upon the adjusting rotatingdevice.

In this case, the caliper, particularly in its lower side pointing tothe wheel axle in the installed position, is provided with one,preferably two bearing housings, and at least one or two supportingelements are arranged on the wheel axle or hub.

In addition, at least one elastically deformable intermediate elementrespectively may be provided or arranged between the bearing housing andthe supporting element, which intermediate element engages in the atleast one bearing housing at the caliper.

As an alternative, it is also conceivable that the caliper hassupporting elements on its lower side pointing toward the wheel axle inthe installed position, and bearing housings are arranged at the wheelaxle or hub, in which case at least one elastically deformableintermediate element respectively is provided/arranged between thebearing housing and the supporting element, which intermediate elementengages in the at least one bearing housing.

In the case of this type of sliding or swivel bearing, as a result ofthe adjusting devices provided on both sides of the brake disc, thebrake pad wear is not compensated by the sliding or swivelling movementbut by the two adjusting devices which, in the case of wear, advance thebrake pads on both sides of the brake disc closer toward the brake disc.As a result, it becomes possible to limit the sliding path or theswivelling angle of the hinged caliper such that in each case only themaximal working stroke can be bridged in the area of the brake pad bymeans of the swivelling movement.

The supporting element can, in each case, preferably be moved relativeto the bearing housing such that the swivelling angle or the slidingpath of the caliper permits a bridging of the maximal working stroke ofthe disc brake in the area of the brake pads.

Particularly preferably, the supporting elements, in each case, engagein one of the bearing housings, the elastic intermediate elements eachbeing arranged between the supporting elements and the bearing housings.This is a constructively easily implementable variant of the inventionwhich can be supplemented particularly advantageously in that theelastic intermediate elements have a bush shape and/or consist of acost-effective elastomer.

Expediently, two of the supporting elements are arranged on,particularly shaped onto the wheel axle or hub, especially on an axlering. It can be implemented in a constructively simple manner and iscost-effective for the supporting elements to have a bolt-shapedconstruction and to be shaped onto the wheel axle or wheel hub by meansof one of their ends.

This can optionally also be combined with a displaceable disc which isarranged on the wheel axle to be displaceable by a portion of theworking stroke. This permits an even smaller sizing of the sliding pathor of the swivelling angle.

Further, as a result of the elastic bearing between the bearing housingand the supporting element, a “pivot bearing” in the actual sense of theword is avoided in the case of the hinged caliper, which permits, on theone hand, a cost-effective implementation of the hinged-caliper functionand, on the other hand, a particularly robust design.

In the case of a sliding-caliper brake, it is expedient for the bearingrecesses, the supporting element and the elastic intermediate element toeach be aligned such that, in each case, an elastic bearing isconstructed which is aligned coaxially with respect to the brake discaxis.

In contrast, in the case of a hinged-caliper brake, it is advantageousto construct one elastic bearing respectively which is alignedperpendicular to the brake disc axis.

Preferably, the supporting element can in each case be moved relative tothe bearing housing such that the swivelling angle or the sliding angleof the caliper (preferably only) permits a bridging of the maximalworking stroke of the disc brake in the area of the brake pads.

In that the free ends of two of the supporting elements are arranged asan extension of a chord through the axle ring at the two intersectionsof the chord with the axle rings and point away from one another withtheir free ends, a construction can be created which is as stable aspossible and nevertheless, by means of simple devices, the necessaryswivelling motion can be implemented.

Particularly preferably, the supporting elements have radial contactsurfaces which, with a small play, are in a contact, which directlytransmits the radial forces, with corresponding opposite surfaces of thebearing housings. This results in a particularly good support againstforces which may rotate the caliper.

In another, particularly preferred embodiment, at least one intermediateelement is constructed in a cost-effective manner as a rubber-metalcomposite part.

The bearing housing and the supporting element may definitely be incontact in areas. It is important that, in sections, an elasticintermediate element is nevertheless arranged between the two elements.

Advantageous further developments of the invention are contained in thesubclaims.

In the following the invention will be explained in detail withreference to the attached figures.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a hinged-caliperdisc brake on a hub ring;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the hinged-caliper disc brake of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 a-3 c are a lateral view as well as two sectional view of thehinged-caliper disc brake of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4 a-d are a rear view as well as a reduced representation of thethree cutouts of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is another exploded view of the elements of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a lateral view of another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the embodiment of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is another exploded view of the embodiment of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a rear view as well as a sectional view of the embodiment ofFIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is an exploded view of elements of another embodiment of theinvention;

FIGS. 11 a-11 c are different views of an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 12 and 13 are sectional views of the connection area between thecaliper and the axle ring of another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 14 a is a sectional view of another disc brake;

FIG. 14 b is a sectional view of a changed connection area of thecaliper of FIG. 14 on the axle ring.

First, the basic construction of the disc brake according to FIG. 14will be described in order to explain, as an example, the constructionof a disc brake with adjusting devices on both faces of the brake disc.

FIG. 14 is a sectional view of a sliding-caliper disc brake having acaliper 3 reaching over a brake disc, the caliper being a one-partcaliper in this case.

As an alternative, the caliper 3 may also be constructed in two parts(not shown here), the two caliper parts then preferably being connectedwith one another by means of studs, and preferably one of the twocaliper parts framing the brake disc in its upper circumferential area,and the other caliper part being used for receiving an applicationdevice, which permits a simple adaptation of the brake to applicationsdevices of many different constructions.

On one side of the brake disc 1, an application device 5 is arranged inthe caliper 3, which application device 5 can be inserted (alsocompletely or partially preassembled) into the caliper 3 through anopening 7 of the caliper 3 pointing toward the brake disc.

The application device 5 has a rotary lever 9, which can be operated bya piston rod (not shown here) and which is supported on the caliper 3 byway of bearing elements, which are not shown here, such as balls andadditional bearing shells.

On its side facing away from the caliper 3, the rotary lever 9 acts at acenter point or preferably at two lateral ends in each case upon anintermediate or supporting element 11, which has a hemisphericalattachment 13 at its end facing the rotary lever. A sliding bearingshell 14 is arranged here between the attachment 13 and the rotary lever9.

The intermediate element 11 is supported on the face of an adjusting nut15, into which an adjusting screw 17 is inserted, particularly screwed,which adjusting screw 19 carries a thrust piece 19 at its end facingaway from the rotary lever 1, which thrust piece 19 rests on a padholding plate 21 of an application-side brake pad 23.

If the rotary lever 9 is swivelled by advancing the piston rod, thelower eccentric-type end (not illustrated here) of the rotary lever 9causes an advancing of the intermediate element 11 in the direction ofthe brake disc 1. In this case, the adjusting nut 15 and the adjustingscrew 17 are also pressed in the direction of the pressure pad 23 andthe application-side pressure pad 23 is displaced in the direction ofthe brake disc 1.

The adjusting nut 15 and the adjusting screw 17 are inserted into twoholding plates 25, 27. A bellows-type seal 29 seals off the spacebetween one holding plate 25 and the thrust piece against a penetrationof dirt and moisture.

On the adjusting nut, a gear wheel 31 is fastened in a non-rotatablemanner relative to the adjusting nut. By way of additional transmissionmembers, such as additional gear wheels, the gear wheel can be operatedparticularly by an electric motor not illustrated here, in order tocompensate the brake pad wear cause by brakings.

When the adjusting nut 15 is rotated, the adjusting screw 17 is axiallymoved relative to the adjusting nut 15, and thus the release playbetween the brake pad and the brake disc is changed. As an alternative,an operation is conceivable by way of a coupling mechanism connectedbetween the rotary lever 9 and the adjusting nut 15 (not shown here).

Two of the adjusting rotary drives consisting of the adjusting nut 15and the adjusting screw 17 are preferably arranged side-by-side on theside of the application device, so that the brake pad is acted upon bypressure at two points.

Two additional adjusting rotary drives with a preferably separateelectromotive drive are arranged on the side of the brake disc 1—of thereaction side—in the caliper 3, which side faces away from the adjustingdevice. Also these adjusting rotary drives each have an adjusting nut 15and an adjusting screw 17 which permit the displacing of the thrustpiece 19 in the direction of the brake pad 33 arranged on the reactionside of the brake disc 1, in the direction of the brake disc 1.

The adjusting of the release play preferably occurs in acomputer-controlled manner.

Since at least one separate adjusting device respectively—here,consisting of two adjusting rotary drives with an electromotive driverespectively—are arranged on each face of the brake disc 1, the caliper3 can be constructed here has a sliding or hinged caliper whose slidingpath or swivelling angle is dimensioned such that, by means of it, lessthan the maximal adjusting path, specifically even just the maximalworking stroke during the application of the brake can be bridged.

For this purpose, the caliper 3 is fastened on a wheel axle or wheel hubin a swivellable or slidable manner relative to the latter. In addition,the brake disc 1 can also be slidably fastened to the wheel axle orwheel hub.

Since the sliding path or swivelling angle to be bridged is smaller thanthe sliding path or the swivelling angle which a comparable caliperaccording to the prior art had to bridge, in the case of which anadjusting device was arranged on only one side of the brake disc 1, thesurprising possibility is obtained of implementing the slidability orthe swivellability by means of an elastic linkage between the caliperand the wheel hub or wheel axle.

According to FIGS. 1 and 3, the caliper 3 has at least one, preferablytwo bearing housings 35 on its lower side pointing in the installedcondition toward the wheel axle, and at least one, preferably twosupporting element(s) is/are arranged on the wheel axle or the wheelhub, in each case, at least one elastically deformable intermediateelement 39 being arranged/provided between the bearing housing 15 andthe supporting element 37. The supporting elements each engage inrecesses or bores of the intermediate elements.

A reverse arrangement—not shown here—is also conceivable, in which thecaliper has the supporting elements, and in which the bearing housingsare arranged on the wheel axle or wheel hub, in which at least oneelastically deformable intermediate element respectively isprovided/arranged between the bearing housing and the supportingelement, which intermediate element engages in the at least one bearinghousing.

If, for example, the swivelling is not implemented by way ofconventional pivot bearings but by way of an elastic linkage between thecaliper and the axle, the problem occurs that the caliper 3 is to beeasily movable in the swivelling direction, if possible, without anyresistance, in which case, on the other hand, a high stiffness isrequired in the circumferential direction for absorbing thecircumferential forces. Since the circumferential forces—caused by theinstallation conditions at the vehicle axles—interfere at a relativelylarge distance from the swivelling pivot of the caliper, they cause atilt of the caliper 3 with respect to the brake disc 1 because of theexisting elasticity, which results in an extremely excessive and uniformwear of the brake pads and possibly in damage to brake components.

These problems are also avoided by means of the invention in preferredembodiments.

Thus, a high stiffness of the support can be achieved by means of thetwo supporting elements 37—particularly if these have a large distancefrom one another and possibly also by a direct force transmission fromthe bearing housings 35 of the caliper 3 to the supporting elements 37—,while the swivelling movement can be achieved with only a low resistanceby means of the elastic deformation of the intermediate elements 39.

In this regard, reference is again made to FIG. 1.

As illustrated, one of the supporting elements 37 respectively isconstructed on an axle ring 41, which can be fastened to a wheel axle orwheel hub or itself can represent a part of these elements, in the upperlateral circumferential area at mutually opposite points of the axlering, which is also easily visible in the exploded view of FIG. 3.

These supporting elements 37 have an essentially bolt-type shape and across-shaped cross-section here. They are aligned to face away from oneanother; that is, they are situated at two mutually spacedcircumferential points of the axle ring 41, in each case, virtually asan extension of a cord through the axle ring, and in the process pointaway from one another by means of the free ends by 180E.

The bearing housings 35 are arranged at corresponding—here,lower—mutually spaced points of the caliper 3. For facilitating themounting, they are each constructed in two parts and consist of firstbearing recess sections 35 a, which are in each case cast directly ontothe caliper 3, as well as off additional bearing recess sections 35 b.

The bearing recess sections 35 a and 35 b each have a cross-sectionwhich is U-shaped in the lateral view. In the assembled condition, theinterior of the bearing housings 35 here has a rectangularcross-section. The supporting elements 37 each engage in the bearinghousings 35 at the caliper 3.

By means of two studs 43 respectively, which penetrate the secondbearing recess sections 35 b as well as the supporting elements 37, thesecond bearing recesses 35 b, which are on the bottom in FIG. 1, and thesupporting elements 37 can be screwed to the first bearing recesses 35a. In this case, the studs also penetrate the elastically deformableintermediate elements 39, which are constructed in the shape of a bushwhose contour is adapted to the outside diameter of the supportingelements 37; that is, the intermediate-element bushes, which have arectangular or here even square outer cross-section, have an essentiallycross-shaped inner cross-section. The studs are dimensioned such thatthe required relative movement between the structural members can beimplemented for sliding or swivelling the caliper 3.

In this case, the dimensioning takes place such that the supportingelements 37 have radial contact surfaces which are in a direct,radial-forces-transmitting contact with a slight play with correspondingopposite surfaces of the bearing housings. Thus, the supporting elements37 are constructed at the radial outer circumference of the cross shapein each case in a slightly rounded fashion. As a result of the largesupporting width of the resulting two swivel zones between thesupporting elements 37 and the bearing recesses 35, a particularly goodsupport is obtained against forces which may rotate the caliper 3 aboutits vertical axis.

In contrast, the swivelling movement of the caliper takes place aboutthe turning center z (FIG. 4 b) of the supporting elements 37 by anelastic pressing of the intermediate elements 39 (see, for example, FIG.11). The intermediate elements 39 are particularly constructed as aone-piece molded part and preferably consist of a suitable elastomermaterial. In this case, they also carry out the hermetic sealing of theelastic swivel bearing toward the outside.

The embodiments of FIGS. 6 to 9 differ from those of FIGS. 1 to 5 inthat the supporting elements 37 have a polygonal cross-section andengage in the bearing housings by way of an elastically deformableintermediate element 39 in the form of an elastic sleeve. The sleeve orthe bush is again used as an elastically deformable intermediate element37 (39?). During the implementation of the swivelling movement, thissleeve is subjected to a pressing as well as to a shearing stress. Thesleeve is preferably again made of an elastomer.

FIG. 10 shows an intermediate element 39 as a rubber-metal compositepart. In this case, an inner bush 45 preferably made of steel plateinteracts with a corresponding outer bush 47, preferably made of steelplate, specifically preferably by way of a non-circular profile, and anelastomer material 57 is injected as the elastic intermediate element 39between the two bushes 45, 47. By way of the screw 39 with a washer 40,this ultra-bush is connected with an axle ring 41. The upper part ofFIG. 10 illustrates the completely preassembled intermediate element 39.

FIG. 11 illustrates the alignment of the bearings perpendicular to thebrake disc axis. Fl is the bearing reaction force; 1 is the bearingspacing. Fu is the resulting circumferential force of both brake shoes.“a” is the shortest distance between the center plane of the brake disc1 and the mid perpendicular between the supporting elements. Thefollowing applies in this case:M=Fu*a=Fl*l

The bearing reaction force is the lower, the shorter the distance “a”and the larger the supporting width “l”.

FIG. 12 shows another embodiment of the invention. Here, the elasticallydeformable intermediate elements 39—which can be used, for example, inthe manner of FIG. 10)—are again constructed as rubber—metal compositebushes (called ultra-bushes) which, by way of one screw 49 respectivelyhaving one centering attachment 51 respectively are connected with theaxle—for example, an axle ring 41—. The axle-side centering attachmentsof the screws, in turn, form the supporting elements 37. The elastomermaterial 57 is sprayed between the metallic inner bush 45 and an outerbush 45, 47 or is constructed as an elastomer bush.

For increasing the stiffness in the circumferential direction, it isadvantageous, starting at a defined force radially acting upon thebearing, to cause a direct transmission of these radially acting forcesfor bridging the elastic intermediate element. According to FIG. 13,this is achieved in that at least one (stop) ring 53 is arranged betweenthe inner bush and the outer bush 45, 47, here in the center, which ring53 is selected such with respect to its inside diameters that it limitsthe possible relative movement between the inner bush and the outerbush; that is, a correspondingly dimensioned play exists between thestop ring 53 and the bushes 45, 47.

The ring 53 can be constructed as a separate component of acorrespondingly compression-proof material. Since the ring 53 isexpediently arranged in the longitudinal center between the inner bushand the outer bush in the injected elastomer, it is useful to providethe ring 53 with longitudinal grooves 55 at the inner or outer diameteror circumference, in order to thereby achieve a connection with theelastomer and a better flowing of the latter during the manufacturingprocess.

However, the ring 53 can also be constructed in one piece with the inneror outer bush, as a surrounding ring 53 or a ring 53 which isinterrupted in segments. For implementing the swivelling movement, theinner bush is rotated with respect to the outer bush, the elastomersituated between the inner and the outer bush being subjected to anelastic shearing stress.

Returning to FIG. 14, it is pointed out that here the elastic bearing isconstructed such that it is arranged coaxial with respect to the axis ofsymmetry of the brake disc; that is, essentially no swivelling movementtakes place about a swivelling axis of the bearing but an elasticlongitudinal slidability of the caliper with an elastic swivellabilitytransversely to the longitudinal axis of the ultra-bush provided here asthe bearing 59.

The elastic bearing 59 of FIG. 14 a has a first elastomer section 61, anadjoining ring 63 with a play between the recess 35 and the supportingelement 37 in the form of studs and a second elastomer section 65.

According to FIG. 14 b, a third elastomer section 67 is provided insteadof the ring 63, the ultra-bush again having an inner and outer bush 45,47, the outer bush having a stepped construction, and the two outerelastomer sections, at the outer circumference and then following astepping, framing the elastomer bush at the inner circumference.

In this case, the movement of the caliper for compensating theelasticity is not exclusively implemented as a swivelling movement,whereby particularly adaptation brakings are carried out with an almostpure longitudinal displacement of the caliper, and the only rarelyoccurring brakings with high braking forces require the swivelling ofthe caliper. This measure clearly improves the wear conditions of thebrake pads and thus their useful life, because the radial displacementparticularly of the outer brake pad occurring in the case of the hingedcaliper is reduced during the braking operation and is even avoidedduring adaptation brakings.

Reference Numbers:

-   -   Brake disc 1    -   caliper 3    -   application device 5    -   opening 7    -   rotary lever 9    -   intermediate element 11    -   hemispherical attachment 13    -   slide bearing shell 14    -   adjusting nut 15    -   adjusting screw 17    -   thrust piece 19    -   pad holding plate 21    -   brake pad 23    -   holding plates 25,27    -   seal 29    -   gear wheel 31    -   brake pad 33    -   bearing housings 35    -   bearing recess section 35 a,35 b    -   supporting elements 37    -   intermediate element 39    -   axle ring 41    -   stud 43    -   inner bush 45    -   outer sleeve 47    -   screws 49    -   centering attachment 51    -   ring 53    -   longitudinal groove 55    -   elastomer material 57    -   elastic bearing 59    -   elastomer sections 61,65    -   ring 63    -   third elastomer section 67    -   bush 69

1-26. (canceled)
 27. A disc brake, comprising: a) a caliper whichstraddles a brake disc and is swivellable or slidable relative to awheel axle or wheel hub; b) a brake application device arranged in thecaliper for applying the brake, which brake application device has arotary lever operable by a piston rod; c) at least one adjusting devicerespectively arranged on each side of the brake disc; d) bearings havingbearing housings and supporting elements, the bearings being arranged ata lower side of the caliper facing the wheel axle or wheel hub in aninstalled condition; e) wherein each of the bearings includes at leastone elastically deformable intermediate element arranged between thebearing housing and the supporting element, which intermediate elementengages in the bearing housing and is movable in each case relative tothe bearing housing only such that a swivelling angle or a sliding pathof the caliper permits a bridging of a maximal working stroke of thedisc brake in an area of the brake pads; and f) wherein the elasticintermediate elements have a bush shape and are formed of an elastomer.28. Disc brake according to claim 27, wherein the supporting elementseach engage in one of the bearing housings, the elastic intermediateelements each being arranged between the supporting elements and thebearing housings.
 29. Disc brake according to claim 27, wherein thesupporting elements are molded onto the wheel axle or wheel hub. 30.Disc brake according to claim 27, wherein the supporting elements arearranged on an axle ring.
 31. Disc brake according to claim 29, whereinthe supporting elements have a bolt-shaped construction and are moldedonto the wheel axle or hub at one of their ends.
 32. Disc brakeaccording to claim 30, wherein free ends of two of the supportingelements are arranged as an extension of a chord through the axle ringat the two intersections of the chord with the axle ring, and extendaway from one another with their free ends.
 33. Disc brake according toclaim 27, wherein supporting elements have a polygonal cross-section.34. Disc brake according to claim 32, wherein supporting elements have apolygonal cross-section.
 35. Disc brake according to claim 27, whereinthe supporting elements have a cross-shaped cross-section.
 36. Discbrake according to claim 32, wherein the supporting elements have across-shaped cross-section.
 37. Disc brake according to claim 30,wherein supporting elements are constructed as studs, which can bescrewed into the axle ring.
 38. Disc brake according to claim 37,wherein the studs have centering attachments, which can be screwed intothe axle ring.
 39. Disc brake according to claim 27, wherein the bearinghousings are formed of two bearing housing sections assembleable bybeing mutually screwed together.
 40. Disc brake according to claim 27,wherein the adjusting device on each side of the brake disc has at leastone adjusting rotary device.
 41. Disc brake according to claim 27,wherein the adjusting device on each side of the brake disc has twoadjusting rotary devices.
 42. Disc brake according to claim 27, whereinthe supporting elements have radial contact surfaces which are in adirect, radial-forces-transmitting contact, with a slight play, withcorresponding opposite surfaces of the bearing housings.
 43. Disc brakeaccording to claim 27, wherein the supporting elements each have aslightly rounded construction at a radial outer circumference.
 44. Discbrake according to claim 33, wherein the supporting elements each have aslightly rounded construction at a radial outer circumference.
 45. Discbrake according to claim 35, wherein the supporting elements each have aslightly rounded construction at a radial outer circumference.
 46. Discbrake according to claim 27, wherein the at least one intermediateelement is a rubber-metal composite part.
 47. Disc brake according toclaim 27, wherein the bearings have an outer bush placed over an innerbush made of steel plate, with an elastomer material being sprayed orslid as the elastic intermediate element respectively between the twobushes.
 48. Disc brake according to claim 46, wherein the rubber-metalcomposite part is coupled by a screw having a centering attachment withone of the wheel axle, wheel hub or axle ring so that the centeringattachments of the screws form the supporting elements.
 49. Disc brakeaccording to claim 47, wherein a ring is arranged with play between theinner and outer bush, the diameter of the ring being selected such thatit limits the possible relative movement between the inner bush and theouter bush.
 50. Disc brake according to claim 40, wherein the adjustingrotary devices each have an adjusting nut into which an adjusting screwis screwed, a thrust piece being arranged on the adjusting nut or theadjusting screw, which thrust piece acts upon one of the brake pads. 51.Disc brake according to claim 47, wherein the inner bush and the outerbush interact by way of a non-circular profile.
 52. Disc brake accordingto claim 47, wherein the inner bush and the outer bush have acylindrical shape.
 53. Disc brake according to claim 47, wherein theinner bush and the outer bush are formed of metal.
 54. Disc brakeaccording to claim 27, wherein the bearing housings, the supportingelement and the elastic intermediate element are each aligned such thatone elastic bearing respectively is constructed, which is coaxiallyaligned with respect to the brake disc axis.
 55. Disc brake according toclaim 27, wherein the bearing housings, the supporting element and theelastic intermediate element are each aligned such that one elasticbearing respectively is constructed, which is perpendicularly alignedwith respect to the brake disc axis.
 56. A commercial disc brake havingone of a pivoting and sliding caliper, comprising: a brake applicationdevice arranged in the caliper on one side of a brake disc; a wearadjustment device arranged on each side of the brake disc; supportbearings for mounting the caliper relative to a wheel axle in aninstalled condition, each of the support bearings including a bearinghousing formed at an underside of the caliper, a support elementengaging in the bearing housing, and an elastically deformable spacerelement provided between the bearing housing and the support element;and wherein the bearings only allow for the swiveling or slidingmovement of the caliper to an extent required to bridge a maximumworking stroke of the disc brake.
 57. A mounting arrangement for aswivellable or slidable caliper of a commercial disc brake, the mountingarrangement comprising: two bearings, said two bearings being arrangedon an underside of the caliper relative to a wheel axle ring, the twobearings being arranged on a chord extending through the axle ring inorder to support the caliper; each bearing comprising a bearing housing,a support element engaging in the bearing housing, and an elasticallydeformable intermediate element arranged between the bearing housing andthe support element, wherein the intermediate element is designed to bemovable relative to the bearing housing such that only a swivel angle ora sliding path of the caliper that bridges a maximum working stroke ofthe disc brake is permitted.
 58. The mounting arrangement according toclaim 57, wherein the elastic intermediate element has a bush shape.